Good House (Leary) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions1. Hildy Good is a complex and layered character—some might say an “unreliable narrator.” Is there a point at which you questions Hildy’s dependability? Is there a point at which she redeemed herself?

2. Hildy likes to entertain others with her “psychic powers” and yet she also informs people that she really doesn’t have any special intuition, that she “just knows a few tricks.” Does this duality show up in other parts of her personality?

3. The New England setting is very much part of The Good House. And yet the author doesn’t spend a lot of time on the description of the area. What makes this book so quintessentially New England?

4. What do you think of Hildy’s assertion that she can tell everything about a person just by walking through his or her house?

5. Wendover, Massachusetts, is being taken over by hedge-fund managers who “want it old, but want it new.” Do you think there will ever be a point at which they are accepted by the “townies?”

6. Why do you think Hildy and newcomer Rebecca McAllister become such fast friends?

7. What do you think of the author’s portrayal of alcoholism and its effects on the drinker and those around them?

8. What happens to Hildy’s attitudes about others when she drinks?

9. Frank Getchell seems an unlikely romantic figure. Why do you think he has carried a torch for Hildy all these years?

10. Hildy claims to be unsentimental about relationships and things. Do you believe this is true about her personality?(Questions issued by the publisher.)